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Glass Etching

ByGail Wilson Published on Updated on
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Doing glass etching on various projects is a great way to personalize gifts. It’s fairly easy to do, but you do need to be very careful with the etching cream.

glass totemI had this glass totem that I made over a year ago. I googled to find a garden phrase and found “Friends are the flowers in the garden of life”.

Decide on a stencil

friends are the flowersThe image was designed  in my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. I was cutting this out on my Portrait, so I did  it in two different cuts. After I cut it like this, I rotated it to cut the other half. Note: the “g” in garden,  I didn’t make my outer most circle quite big enough.

etching-cream-vinylCan you see the words? It’s tough to see white on white.

Apply Stencil

etching-cream-vinyl-appliedI actually ended up cutting out one word at a time and applied it without transfer paper. Because I do stenciling all the time, it was easy for me. This vinyl is VERY sticky and a little difficult to re-position. After applying each word, I transferred the oodles and boodles. (insides of the letters)

Spread etching cream with plastic knife

spreading-etching-creamThere were a couple of places I had to “patch” with a small sliver of the vinyl—where the letter was too close to the edge, and where the two words didn’t come together perfectly. I didn’t want the etching cream to bleed though the edges of the stencil.

After donning rubber gloves I used a plastic knife to apply the etching cream to the stencil.

Use a cotton swab to clean up smudges

use-a-qtip-remove-excessThere were a couple of places I got too close to the edge, and used a Q-tip to clean it up.

Rinse Etching Cream with garden hose

scrape-excess-etching-cream-into-botteI scraped the excess etching cream back into the bottle, it’s reusable. It’s best to do this outside (away from pets and plants).

rinse-etching-creamCarefully, I rinsed the etching cream off with the hose. I have used etching cream before and learned the hard way that you shouldn’t rinse it in your sink. When you  have a porcelain sink  the etching cream can leave visible damage.

Admire your glass etching project!

glass-totem

garden-totemI love how this glass etching turned out! There are so many applications for glass etching. Think candy dishes, dog/cat treat bowls, oh and I did glass etching on a  baking dish for jamie years ago.

gail

See more repurposed glass project ideas here

Gail Wilson is the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. She is obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believes that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again, including herself!
Gail reinvented herself during a midlife crisis and has found purpose again. She hopes you will find new ideas for old things and pick up a few tools along the way.

119 Comments

  2. We have a lot of upcoming weddings to attend, so I would etch on bakeware as a personalized gift for each couple. Or even come up with something more original. I love how your project turned out!

  4. I have three nephews getting married in the next few months–I’d love to etch glass cookie jars for them and fill them with my mother’s (their grandmother’s) cookie recipes.

  5. Stacy has been bugging me about getting her a Silhouette – I’m sure cake plates would be a first project for this handy little item.

  8. I would love to hang a new portrait on my collage wall. I would love to etch My cake domes and some plates.

  9. All my mirrors and maybe my bathroom window. I love words and phrases. And punnies! Thanks for the chance!

  12. I feel so silly, but I had no idea something as cool as etching cream existed. I WANT TO ETCH ALL THE GLASS NOW!

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